With the vinyl reissue of album The Silent Circus from progressive hardcore rockers Between The Buried And Me as they celebrate their 20 th year together, we caught up with lead singer Tommy Rogers to see how the band are coping through the current situation and what the future has in store for the band.
Difficult times, how has this crisis affected you guys as a whole? All safe and well? Any message to your fans?
-It has for sure taken a lot of time to get adjusted. As a whole, we are doing very well…trying to stay creative and happy. As a group we really lucked out compared to a lot of bands. We finished off our Australia/South American tour right before this hit and then went instantly into quarantine. Musicians as a whole have no clue what the future holds, but worst case, it’s at least giving everyone a lot of time to create. We are ready to get back at it!
Have you been able to keep in touch with each other, or even do anything creative since we went into lockdown?
-We have never been the type of band that calls each other all the time or video chats, but we do naturally text a lot and have to work things out together on the business side of things. It’s weird being away from each other for this amount of time. This may be the longest we’ve ever gone without being in a room with each other.
How do you feel when looking back with the re-release of The Silent Circus? Do you feel like you have achieved what you set out to do?
-It feels really good. This remix gave the album a new life for me and I’m pleasantly surprised at how well these songs hold up. I’ve always been very proud about the fact that we’ve always represented ourselves very organically in that time period with each record, and with this one in particular, I think we’ve really showed growth and how we want to direct the band in that moment.
You talked about hearing The Silent Circus with new ears and the many transformations you’ve exhibited over the years. Has your approach to song writing changed since this album over the years? How does a track develop within the band?
-It’s a changed a whole lot. Writing is tough to explain because it always changes and develops. With The Silent Circus, mostly Paul and I wrote the music but since Alaska the entire band writes the songs together. We normally work remotely from each other and write a lot on our own, and from there, we start working as a group to build the album. However, this does change from time to time and each song is always written a little differently than the last.
What’s your favourite track to play? What songs are you looking forward to playing live when you get the chance?
-It changes. It’s all based off of crowd energy for me. Currently it would be “Voice Of Trespass” or “Disease, Injury, Madness”.
Is being in a band still what you guys love? What keeps you guys creating after all these years? Has it got any easier?
-We do love what we do. We constantly stay inspired because we genuinely love writing music. Also as artists, we never know what the next steps are going to be so that gives us a lot of creative freedom. We still constantly surprise each other with the things we write and that’s very helpful in keeping the process exciting. I don’t know if it’s gotten easier, but I think we are technically better at what we do than in the past… we have become a very good team.
Are there any bands past or present you would love to have played with or even been part of?
-Too many to name. Music rules and lots of bands rule.
Difficult to talk about future plans, but what does the future look like post lockdown for the band?
-No clue hahah. We do plan on doing our An Evening With… tour. That’s the next step for us. Hopefully in 2021 we will make that happen. We are also doing a Twitch livestream in August for the album Colors. It will be nice to play live together again for a couple of days.
What music are you digging right now? Any particular artists do you would love to see make it?
-I listen to a lot of old jazz at home and I’ve currently been way obsessed with King Gizzard and IDLES.
This special reissue of the bands second album newly remixed and remastered by the group’s longtime collaborator, Jamie King —offers fans the chance to revisit one of the band’s early masterpieces. Available for pre-order here, the double-LP will be available July 31 st , while a limited-edition version, pressed on purple marble vinyl , will be sold exclusively via the band’s website. The title will also be reissued concurrently across all streaming and digital platforms.
Have a listen to one of Tommy’s current favourites to play live ‘Voice Of Trespass’
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